 'Mark van Eldik First winner' Persbericht: ERC
Foto: Willem Wittenberg | RSSP.eu
The first round of the new Euro Rally Challenge has been won by Mark van Eldik and his co-pilot Michel Groenewoud. The Tank S Rally was held at the winding dikes of the Noordoostpolder on 14 and 15 March.
The twelve participants in the Euro Challenge Rally began on Friday evening with two special stages, each driven twice. The first stage in Kuinre was driven in the dark. This stage wasn’t new but in previous editions it was driven in daylight. Then the circus turned back to Emmeloord for a Super Special on the industrial park “de Munt”. Participants were started there each 10 seconds, according to the principle of a group start.
Mark van Eldik and co-pilot Michel Groenewoud were leading the rally in their Subaru Impreza WRC at the end of the first leg, before the Ford Focus of the other ERC promoter Erik Wevers. During the second leg Erik Wevers went off road and lost over two minutes in a ditch. That cleared the way for Harry Kleinjan (Skoda Fabia WRC) and René Kuipers (Subaru Impreza WRC) to climb in the rankings. Joost Kusters came at the start with his Subaru Legacy for the first time, but had to give up because of a broken turbo.
Under the watchful eye of the Hungarian Mihaly Hodula, whose car was still not ready, the challenge moved to Kampen in the afternoon. Classic stages from the Tank S Rally were waiting there for the teams. The special stage “Zwartendijk” turned out to be a gain for the rally with Belgian-like curves. Mark van Eldik almost went off during the second passage. He span and lost more than twenty seconds. Erik Wevers had engaged a great comeback which brought him to the third place at the end of the rally.
Jan de Winkel and John Temmink had a hard time in the Tank S Rally. Because his new Renault Clio R3 is not ready yet, Winkel had to start with a rented car. Temmink was given a time penalty of 2 minutes before the rally even had started. The only S2000 car in the field, the Peugeot 207 of Dennis Kuipers, performed excellent. The young pilot finished fifth in the Challenge and won in Group N.
Janina Depping was second in Group N behind the S2000 from Kuipers. The fast German lady drove a solid rally without errors. Her nearest rival Michael Pedersen had to stop the fight after eight stages. Edwin Schilt also had problems with his new Subaru Impreza N14. The computer of the car turned to the emergency mode repeatedly. Gerhard Sharkey drove a solid rally. Without any problems the Irish drove to the third place in Group N, before Schilt.
The next event of the Euro Rally Challenge is the ADAC Rallye Vogelsberg in Germany. This rally will take place from 17 to 19 April. |
